What else can we expect for the PS2?

[ghibli99]

Hi all,

Sorry, I don't frequent this board quite as much as I used to, so I'm sorry if this has been covered to death.

Anyway, since I've been playing Galuda, Mushi, and Ibara lately, I got to thinking about the PS2 and the remainder of its lifecycle.

Shooter-wise, what else is coming out? I'd like to keep this to only stuff that's been announced... as much as I would love to fantasize about a Feveron/Progear/Guwange/Ketsui pack, that's only wishful thinking.

Anyway, thanks in advance for your feedback.

[elvis]

Purely from Sony's point of view, the PS2 will continue to stick around for a while as the "budget platform" (ie: exactly what happened with the PSOne after the PS2 appeared).

Sony is renowned for being anti-2D, but the good news here is with the advent of the PS3, the PS2 will be open ground for budget, indi and 2D developers. For 2D fighters and shmups (ie: the only two styles of gaming I can stand), that's great news.

But that says nothing about third party support of course.

Platform wise, the PS2 and Wii will be the hardware of choice for these sorts of games over the next 2-3 years. Which one developers choose (or if they'll even bother at all) will be the big question.

Recent discussions about ports of titles like Ketsui and ESP Galuda II quote development/porting staff saying that the PS2 isn't powerful enough to handle these titles. That could suggest that people like Cave jump on the Wii bandwagon instead (again, assuming they actually want to backport slightly older arcade releases to console at all).

[BulletMagnet]

Shooter-wise, what else is coming out?

All I can think of are "budget" releases for Homura and TSS: Petite Princesse (both in November I think)...no "new" titles come to mind. As a JPS2 owner, though, I'm certainly hoping for more, though I hesitate to speculate.

[shinsage]

XS Games will release Ibara in the US as Flower Power Kids and the hottie sisters will be called MILFinators.

Just my guess.

[Frederik]

@elvis, in what way will the PS2 become "open ground"?

[elvis]

@elvis, in what way will the PS2 become "open ground"?

It's no secret that Sony are making life tough for people wanting to bring out new 2D titles on their hardware. Currently the only way to do that successfully is to have a proven market franchise in the arcade world. That's why Cave/SNK-Playmore/etc are allowed to brnig their 2D titles out thus far. However there are a LOT of indi developers out there getting knocked back when they propose new stuff (some of which includes shooting games).

SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) are to blame. They've been pusing SCEJ (Japan) for a long time to knock back 2D titles. In the eyes of SCEA the battle for the console market will be won only on looks and eye-candy.

Once the PS3 arrives, this will take the strain of the PS2. Just like the PSX brought a last minute rush of indi and low budget titles out after the PS2 appeared, the same thing will happen again with the PS2/PS3. SCEA in particular will be busy fighting at the high end of the market trying to convince the world that 3D graphics bling are all that counts which will pave the way for the PS2 to become a bit more friendly to the low-budget crowd.

The Wii will be big competition here, and I think Sony should think long and hard about keeping the PS2 around for a bit. Nintendo have openly announced they will gladly take 2D developers on board. SNK-Playmore have already been heard to be considering the Wii as their home for the next 3-5 years and dumping Sony after their rather poor relationship to date.

Still on the same topic, Nintendo announced a while back that their virtual console system would be open to indi developers as well. This is great news for folks making games in the sub-100MB market who can't afford distribution costs associated with the rather archaic CD/DVD distribuition system we see today. "Download pay and play" will be an enormous boost for the indi market, as well as bringing new talent into the mainstream market (something desperately needed, if you ask me).

So with that in mind, Sony will need to embrace the low-end or lose it. And knowing Sony the way I do, they don't like losing anything. Even if it is the bottom 5% of the market that makes up we 2D lovers.

[dai jou bu]

Still on the same topic, Nintendo announced a while back that their virtual console system would be open to indi developers as well. This is great news for folks making games in the sub-100MB market who can't afford distribution costs associated with the rather archaic CD/DVD distribuition system we see today. "Download pay and play" will be an enormous boost for the indi market, as well as bringing new talent into the mainstream market (something desperately needed, if you ask me).

You mean like Xbox Live Arcade or Steam? Microsoft and Valve seem to have a head start with that concept.

XS Games will release Ibara in the US as Flower Power Kids and the hottie sisters will be called MILFinators.

Top it off with excellent voice acting and I might actually get it.

But seriously though, it looks like it's that time of the PS2's lifecycle where developers are dumping compilations left and right. I can't give any examples right now since I can't find the exact sources, but it's happening.

[dave4shmups]

@elvis, in what way will the PS2 become "open ground"?

It's no secret that Sony are making life tough for people wanting to bring out new 2D titles on their hardware. Currently the only way to do that successfully is to have a proven market franchise in the arcade world. That's why Cave/SNK-Playmore/etc are allowed to brnig their 2D titles out thus far. However there are a LOT of indi developers out there getting knocked back when they propose new stuff (some of which includes shooting games).

SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) are to blame. They've been pusing SCEJ (Japan) for a long time to knock back 2D titles. In the eyes of SCEA the battle for the console market will be won only on looks and eye-candy.

Once the PS3 arrives, this will take the strain of the PS2. Just like the PSX brought a last minute rush of indi and low budget titles out after the PS2 appeared, the same thing will happen again with the PS2/PS3. SCEA in particular will be busy fighting at the high end of the market trying to convince the world that 3D graphics bling are all that counts which will pave the way for the PS2 to become a bit more friendly to the low-budget crowd.

The Wii will be big competition here, and I think Sony should think long and hard about keeping the PS2 around for a bit. Nintendo have openly announced they will gladly take 2D developers on board. SNK-Playmore have already been heard to be considering the Wii as their home for the next 3-5 years and dumping Sony after their rather poor relationship to date.

Still on the same topic, Nintendo announced a while back that their virtual console system would be open to indi developers as well. This is great news for folks making games in the sub-100MB market who can't afford distribution costs associated with the rather archaic CD/DVD distribuition system we see today. "Download pay and play" will be an enormous boost for the indi market, as well as bringing new talent into the mainstream market (something desperately needed, if you ask me).

So with that in mind, Sony will need to embrace the low-end or lose it. And knowing Sony the way I do, they don't like losing anything. Even if it is the bottom 5% of the market that makes up we 2D lovers.

Good points, but I don't think we'll see as many this time around. First of all, we've lost Working Designs, so that pretty much just leaves XS Games to pick up any ports, and they haven't even updated their website in ages. There have also been NO shmup announcements for the US PS2 for early 2007 yet, and Raiden III has dropped off the radar screen for the PS2 over here.

[Strider77]

The only thing I can think of that isn't out yet and is on it's way is the 2nd Capcom Classics. I think it has Varth and 1941.

[JJG]

I think Sony's kind of forced to snatch up and release anything they can at this point since they're taking so damn long to release the PS3.

[Carmen]

Elvis, I'm curious, when you say "That's why Cave/SNK-Playmore/etc are allowed to brnig their 2D titles out thus far", are you referring to SCEA or SCE (Japan)? Cos SNKP hasnt' really had a good time at ALL releasing games in America (for the PS2.)

"They've [SCEA] been pusing SCEJ (Japan) for a long time to knock back 2D titles. "

Whoa, really? I know SCEA was very harsh in its own market, but I didn't think they would try to influence thier parent company! In the old days that would be grounds for getting your branch changed. Any reports of SCE considering SCEA's stance?

I also think we'll see SCEA losen its iron-hard grip in the PS2's twilight years, but it remains to be seen by how much. Personally I'm hoping the PS3 tanks in the US and SCEA gets a damn good makeover as a result...